Last night I was reading a book about ladybugs to Kaitlyn. It is a First Discovery book from Scholastic, a neat little book that explains all about ladybugs. It talks about what they look like, what they eat, and then we got to the page that shows one ladybug half on top of another. It says: "In the spring, male and female ladybugs mate so the female can make eggs". I started reading, but did not get further than "In the spring" when Kaitlyn remarked: look mommy, they are playing leapfrog!
I burst out laughing and had a hard time finishing the rest of the book...Kaitlyn started laughing with me, undoubtedly wondering why it is so funny to me that ladybugs play leapfrog in the spring. That did not keep her from laughing, though, and she brought it up several times this morning just to make me laugh again! Ooohhh, to be (almost) six again....
Then, at breakfast, Jim is about to say grace while Kaitlyn is trying to put the lid on her water cup. She is turning it the wrong way, and Jim says to her: "you need to screw it the other way, to the right".
He is about to say the blessing, when KK says laughing: Daddy, you just said "screw". Jim and I looked at eachother and just burst out laughing! Of course Kaitlyn joined in, all the while wondering what on earth was so funny. While we are trying to compose ourselves, KK finally asked why we are laughing. I told her we had to think about the ladybugs playing leapfrog in the spring...
I will have to ask her why she thinks the word 'screw' is so funny, since I am positive she doesn't know the "other" meaning!
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Why I disagree with this post...
I found this blog when I was looking for the words to the poem "Welcome to Holland". My response is posted as a last comment...her blog has moved to a different site and I guess the comments don't move with the posts. So here it is: the blog and comments!
"Why I despise the "Welcome to Holland" poem"
"Why I despise the "Welcome to Holland" poem"
Monday, January 12, 2009
Mamma
Mamma is het woord
waar het leven mee begint
mamma is het woord
dat hoort bij ieder kind
een woord om zacht te zeggen
niet om luid te schreeuwen
het hoeft niets uit te leggen
en gaat door alle eeuwen
mamma is het woord
waar de mensheid mee begint
mamma is een ander woord
voor liefde
waar het leven mee begint
mamma is het woord
dat hoort bij ieder kind
een woord om zacht te zeggen
niet om luid te schreeuwen
het hoeft niets uit te leggen
en gaat door alle eeuwen
mamma is het woord
waar de mensheid mee begint
mamma is een ander woord
voor liefde
Toon Hermans (ontbijten met jou)
A poem by one of my favorite Dutch poets...loosely translated it goes something like this:
Mamma is the word
with which life starts
mamma is the word
that is part of every child
A word to speak softly
not shout out loud
it does not need to explain anything
and lasts through the centuries
mamma is the word
with which humanity starts
mamma is another word
for love
A poem by one of my favorite Dutch poets...loosely translated it goes something like this:
Mamma is the word
with which life starts
mamma is the word
that is part of every child
A word to speak softly
not shout out loud
it does not need to explain anything
and lasts through the centuries
mamma is the word
with which humanity starts
mamma is another word
for love
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Party preparations
The day after New Year's we "undecorated" the house.
The tree was untrimmed, all Christmas wreaths taken down, the lights unwrapped from around the bushes and deck railing. The ribbon, lights and bow came off the mailbox, the Christmas CD's were gathered, and all other miscellaneous decorations were collected and placed in the living room.
Then I started the tedious task of packing the Christmas boxes. Surprise! We have two boxes more than what we started with...okay, we did buy some stuff on clearance after Christmas. The more we have to decorate the house with next year!
When everything was packed, Jim took the tree outside to be dropped off at the recycling site, and I cleaned up the mountain of pine needles left behind. It is a small price to pay for having the joy of picking out a tree, that first scent of "Christmas" filling the car and house, and Hootie would not be able to have his favorite treat this time of the year: Christmas tree water! (now he's back to toilet bowl water...)
After the last box was put away in the garage, I sat down on the sofa and sighed...I missed our tree! I missed the Christmas decorations! Even the mailbox looked bald!
I guess I was not quite ready to say goodbye to Christmas yet.
But I had to, because I needed to start planning for a big birthday party coming up!
Kaitlyn has been planning this for months and she started crossing off days on the calendar, now that we flipped the page to the first month of the new year.
I sighed once more and got up to get a piece of paper to compile a list (I LOVE lists) of things to buy for the party.
Kaitlyn already knows she is getting a puppy. After changing her mind a few times she now settled on a German Shepherd. She may change her mind a few more times, but one thing that is constant is that the puppy needs to be a girl. She definitely does not want another boy in the house! If she would have had a choice, she would have had a baby sister. Don't get me wrong, she LOVES her little brother and delights in the fact that he lights up like a 1000 watt light bulb the instant he sees her. She simply would have preferred a girl, that's all.
So, we know the puppy will have to be female.
Basically her presents are easy this year. The challenge is the theme she chose:
a "Flying unicorn sleepover" party -
We have already decided on who gets to come for the sleepover. We have agreed on 3 girls. Now all we need to make sure of, is that the girls will be able to come. I know that one of them has her birthday the day I planned to have Kaitlyn's party (her birthday is on a Friday, and I was planning for the sleepover on Saturday)
So Kaitlyn already picked a "replacement". I will have to contact the girls' parents and try to figure out what works for all of them (we might do an "almost" sleepover), check if anyone has any allergies, then work out a menu.
Now, for the most difficult part: the decorations! You might think I am exaggerating here, but KK knows EXACTLY what she wants and how she wants it.
Well, at least I still have a few weeks to buy white posterboard, draw a "flying unicorn" exactly the way she wants it, and then make 2 more like it - I pray I don't have to paint them.
January promises to be not as relaxing as I was hoping for! I don't think I will be bored anytime soon, but then again the last time that occurred was...I cannot even remember!
I am guessing pre-children era?
The tree was untrimmed, all Christmas wreaths taken down, the lights unwrapped from around the bushes and deck railing. The ribbon, lights and bow came off the mailbox, the Christmas CD's were gathered, and all other miscellaneous decorations were collected and placed in the living room.
Then I started the tedious task of packing the Christmas boxes. Surprise! We have two boxes more than what we started with...okay, we did buy some stuff on clearance after Christmas. The more we have to decorate the house with next year!
When everything was packed, Jim took the tree outside to be dropped off at the recycling site, and I cleaned up the mountain of pine needles left behind. It is a small price to pay for having the joy of picking out a tree, that first scent of "Christmas" filling the car and house, and Hootie would not be able to have his favorite treat this time of the year: Christmas tree water! (now he's back to toilet bowl water...)
After the last box was put away in the garage, I sat down on the sofa and sighed...I missed our tree! I missed the Christmas decorations! Even the mailbox looked bald!
I guess I was not quite ready to say goodbye to Christmas yet.
But I had to, because I needed to start planning for a big birthday party coming up!
Kaitlyn has been planning this for months and she started crossing off days on the calendar, now that we flipped the page to the first month of the new year.
I sighed once more and got up to get a piece of paper to compile a list (I LOVE lists) of things to buy for the party.
Kaitlyn already knows she is getting a puppy. After changing her mind a few times she now settled on a German Shepherd. She may change her mind a few more times, but one thing that is constant is that the puppy needs to be a girl. She definitely does not want another boy in the house! If she would have had a choice, she would have had a baby sister. Don't get me wrong, she LOVES her little brother and delights in the fact that he lights up like a 1000 watt light bulb the instant he sees her. She simply would have preferred a girl, that's all.
So, we know the puppy will have to be female.
Basically her presents are easy this year. The challenge is the theme she chose:
a "Flying unicorn sleepover" party -
We have already decided on who gets to come for the sleepover. We have agreed on 3 girls. Now all we need to make sure of, is that the girls will be able to come. I know that one of them has her birthday the day I planned to have Kaitlyn's party (her birthday is on a Friday, and I was planning for the sleepover on Saturday)
So Kaitlyn already picked a "replacement". I will have to contact the girls' parents and try to figure out what works for all of them (we might do an "almost" sleepover), check if anyone has any allergies, then work out a menu.
Now, for the most difficult part: the decorations! You might think I am exaggerating here, but KK knows EXACTLY what she wants and how she wants it.
Well, at least I still have a few weeks to buy white posterboard, draw a "flying unicorn" exactly the way she wants it, and then make 2 more like it - I pray I don't have to paint them.
January promises to be not as relaxing as I was hoping for! I don't think I will be bored anytime soon, but then again the last time that occurred was...I cannot even remember!
I am guessing pre-children era?
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Happy New Year!
Last night was the 1-year anniversary of Alexander being home! Kaitlyn had to go to bed, but I promised her I would wake her up before midnight so she could celebrate with us. She was all excited about the prospect and asked if I could prepare some snacks for us as well. Sure, I told her, I will have some yummy snacks ready when I wake you up.
She tried to get me to let her sleep on the couch, but I told her no, to sleep in her own bed. I said I might even take a nap myself since I was sleepy too - she had visited me the night before at 3am. She asked me all worrried: But then how are you going to get the snacks ready if you take a nap???
The holidays are over.
They were much anticipated, even if it was all a little (okay, a LOT) hectic, considering we moved into a new house over Thanksgiving break. At the same time I would not have missed any of it for the world! I feel satisfied and fulfilled.
I still have a few days to enjoy before the regular work/school weeks will start up again and I plan on enjoying those few days to the fullest!
God is good. He has been very good to us and I feel incredibly blessed and grateful. I have made some decisions careerwise, that are filling me with excitement and anticipation. I can't wait to get started working toward fulfilling my dreams!
Next big event: KK's Birthday!
She tried to get me to let her sleep on the couch, but I told her no, to sleep in her own bed. I said I might even take a nap myself since I was sleepy too - she had visited me the night before at 3am. She asked me all worrried: But then how are you going to get the snacks ready if you take a nap???
The holidays are over.
They were much anticipated, even if it was all a little (okay, a LOT) hectic, considering we moved into a new house over Thanksgiving break. At the same time I would not have missed any of it for the world! I feel satisfied and fulfilled.
I still have a few days to enjoy before the regular work/school weeks will start up again and I plan on enjoying those few days to the fullest!
God is good. He has been very good to us and I feel incredibly blessed and grateful. I have made some decisions careerwise, that are filling me with excitement and anticipation. I can't wait to get started working toward fulfilling my dreams!
Next big event: KK's Birthday!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Santa, I can explain
You see, Santa, when I first got my glasses, I was fine with them. I did not really attempt to take them off other than when I was tired.
A few months ago that changed. For some reason unknown to me I did not want those things on my nose anymore. I kept feeling this urge to grab a hold of them and yank them off my face the instant they came on. Next thing mama and daddy knew my glasses were under my bouncy seat. I would also throw them as far as I could, or hide them by sitting on them...
Mama and daddy thought my eyes had gotten miraculously better and believed my glasses must be too strong for me now. An appointment with the opthalmologist was made, and they usually are WAY in the future. For a while they kind of gave up on putting the glasses on my nose because they certainly did not want me to get a headache or otherwise suffer!
Finally the appointment came. Surprise: my eyes had not improved at all! The opthalmologist told mama and daddy that sometimes kids will do that for no apparent reason. I had just decided that I wanted to take my glasses off because I could. I made mama laugh out loud when daddy and I showed her my trick: daddy would put my glasses on and I would do nothing, just watch him. He would walk away and disappear from sight, and I would promptly grab my glasses and throw them away! That was fun for a while, but daddy was on to me. He became the glasses nazi! He seemed to have eyes in the back of his head and knew instantly when I just THOUGHT about reaching for them...Mama and Ama were pretty close seconds and my own sister Kaitlyn (we call her Sissy) ratted me out all the time!
I knew I had to do something. My time had come when daddy and I went downtown to meet Ama, mama, and Sissy. They had been to see the Nutcracker and were meeting us at the Melting Pot restaurant, where mama and daddy were going for dinner. Ama would take Sissy and me to her house. Daddy was in a hurry and after parking the car, putting me in the stroller and making sure my glasses were on, we rushed over to meet the others. It was very cold that day and I looked like a little snowman, all bundled up. Quite cute actually, even though I say so myself!
Daddy went really fast and was not paying attention to me. There was my chance! I yanked off my glasses, held them over the side of the stroller, and opened my hand...
When we arrived at the restaurant, mama and daddy had to rush inside and Ama whisked us off to her house. Mama did notice that I was not wearing my glasses, but she thought daddy had stuck them inside the diaper bag.
Honestly, Santa, I did not mean any harm to anyone. Even though those glasses look really cute on me, they annoy the heck out of me and I just had to do it!
All this happened just a few days before Christmas and I think you might not have gotten the message about this incident in time to stop my presents from being delivered...thank you very much for all the cool stuff; I love each and every one of my presents and promise to play with them a lot!
I thought I should write you a little explanation just in case this would count against me next year... Another pair of glasses have already been ordered and I bought myself only a tiny bit of glasses-free time, so I think I have been punished enough.
Please remember that I was not thinking clearly before I did it, something very common with babies and little kids as you know. I promise to do a better job of keeping them on my nose! (Did you also know, that babies have something called infantile amnesia? Just keep it in mind in case I forget my promise...)
Thank you for listening to me, Santa.
I love you very much and we will have cookies and milk out for you again next Christmas Eve,
Alexander
p.s. Say Hi to all the reindeer for me - I will make sure mama leaves out a treat for them next year, too!
A few months ago that changed. For some reason unknown to me I did not want those things on my nose anymore. I kept feeling this urge to grab a hold of them and yank them off my face the instant they came on. Next thing mama and daddy knew my glasses were under my bouncy seat. I would also throw them as far as I could, or hide them by sitting on them...
Mama and daddy thought my eyes had gotten miraculously better and believed my glasses must be too strong for me now. An appointment with the opthalmologist was made, and they usually are WAY in the future. For a while they kind of gave up on putting the glasses on my nose because they certainly did not want me to get a headache or otherwise suffer!
Finally the appointment came. Surprise: my eyes had not improved at all! The opthalmologist told mama and daddy that sometimes kids will do that for no apparent reason. I had just decided that I wanted to take my glasses off because I could. I made mama laugh out loud when daddy and I showed her my trick: daddy would put my glasses on and I would do nothing, just watch him. He would walk away and disappear from sight, and I would promptly grab my glasses and throw them away! That was fun for a while, but daddy was on to me. He became the glasses nazi! He seemed to have eyes in the back of his head and knew instantly when I just THOUGHT about reaching for them...Mama and Ama were pretty close seconds and my own sister Kaitlyn (we call her Sissy) ratted me out all the time!
I knew I had to do something. My time had come when daddy and I went downtown to meet Ama, mama, and Sissy. They had been to see the Nutcracker and were meeting us at the Melting Pot restaurant, where mama and daddy were going for dinner. Ama would take Sissy and me to her house. Daddy was in a hurry and after parking the car, putting me in the stroller and making sure my glasses were on, we rushed over to meet the others. It was very cold that day and I looked like a little snowman, all bundled up. Quite cute actually, even though I say so myself!
Daddy went really fast and was not paying attention to me. There was my chance! I yanked off my glasses, held them over the side of the stroller, and opened my hand...
When we arrived at the restaurant, mama and daddy had to rush inside and Ama whisked us off to her house. Mama did notice that I was not wearing my glasses, but she thought daddy had stuck them inside the diaper bag.
Honestly, Santa, I did not mean any harm to anyone. Even though those glasses look really cute on me, they annoy the heck out of me and I just had to do it!
All this happened just a few days before Christmas and I think you might not have gotten the message about this incident in time to stop my presents from being delivered...thank you very much for all the cool stuff; I love each and every one of my presents and promise to play with them a lot!
I thought I should write you a little explanation just in case this would count against me next year... Another pair of glasses have already been ordered and I bought myself only a tiny bit of glasses-free time, so I think I have been punished enough.
Please remember that I was not thinking clearly before I did it, something very common with babies and little kids as you know. I promise to do a better job of keeping them on my nose! (Did you also know, that babies have something called infantile amnesia? Just keep it in mind in case I forget my promise...)
Thank you for listening to me, Santa.
I love you very much and we will have cookies and milk out for you again next Christmas Eve,
Alexander
p.s. Say Hi to all the reindeer for me - I will make sure mama leaves out a treat for them next year, too!
Friday, December 26, 2008
It's Christmas!
We have the most beautiful mailbox in our neighborhood!
Apart from Hootie, everyone is enjoying Christmas.
Zander showing off his chocolate letter; KK and Zander visit Santa; KK and Aaron show their Christmas Eve present!
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